It was 4:30, and the crew from Tacoma's Station 11 pulled up to a smoky house fire.

"Right before we went into the structure, we heard three distinct popping sounds, which we thought were electrical at the time," describes firefighter Matt Carlisle. "So we threw our masks on and we went into the basement."

Thick smoke surrounded them. They heard coughing, and soon realized they had two victims.

"The victim was right here, right in front of me," Carlisle says. "Both of them. One here, one here."

Carlisle turned to take care of a man who was motionless on a bed. Damon Semingson was beside a woman.

In a flash of horror, he realized the popping sounds they heard earlier were gunshots.

"I noticed the gun that was pointed at Matt at the time," Semingson says. "And it turned towards me. She was pulling the trigger, trying to continue to shoot."

Semingson wrestled the gun away.

It was a Taurus .38 special 5-shot revolver that was already empty.

Once outside the house, he told Carlisle about their close call.

"I didn't believe it at first," Carlisle says. "I thought, 'Nah. There must've been some confusion there.' But later on, I ... I wouldn't know what to say. I was obviously surprised, obviously scared about it."

They learned Nancy LeBovick confessed to shooting her boyfriend in the head and then setting the house on fire. According to documents filed by prosecutors in Superior Court, LeBovick told investigators she had shot 65-year-old George Hartman, put clothes soaked in fuel throughout the house, set them on fire and returned to the basement.

"She said her plan was to inhale as much smoke as she could because she had read that three-fourths of fire victims die from smoke inhalation and she decided to choose that method to die," investigators wrote. "She said she thought that if she breathed deeply she would succumb to the smoke, but it didn't happen."

Documents also say LeBovick told investigators she began planning about three weeks ago to commit suicide because she was tired of living and had concerns about the government. She told authorities she decided to kill Hartman so he wouldn't be left alone.

But LeBovick denied trying to shoot the firefighters.

In court Wednesday facing a first-degree murder charge, she asked the judge, "Who did I attempt to kill other than myself?"

The judge told her, "The police report indicates you pointed a gun at a firefighter and pulled the trigger a number of times."

"I meant to shoot myself," she said.

"There's also probable cause to think you killed Mr. Hartman," the judge told her. LeBovick replied, "I did kill him."

The tragedy is not lost on Station 11. But they do not see themselves as heroes.

"This is part of my job and it's what any of us would've done, any of the firefighters," says Semingson.

They're not haunted by "what ifs" and not fazed by saving the life of someone who might have wanted to kill them.

"I feel fine. I love my job," says Carlisle. "I'll continue to do this for the next 30 years and it has no effect on me in that respect."

Bail for LeBovick was set at $1 million.